Writing a Fitting Ending for a Narrative Essay
While working on a narrative essay, one must remember that they bear a close resemblance to written stories. However, there are a lot of things that differentiate the ending of a narrative essay, any other essay or a short story. Because of this, there are specific rules that should be followed while writing the last part to this kind of paper. This article will help you to understand some of those rules for creating a good conclusion for such an essay.
Remember the basics
Remember, that in no essay you should:
- Make the ending just a summary of the text;
- Use closing phrases like “to sum up” or “in conclusion”, as the readers can see where the ending is;
- Make the ending overly complex.
Know why you wrote it
As previously mentioned, narrative essays read a lot like fictional stories written with a purpose to entertain. However, this does not mean that you are just trying to alleviate boredom by creating your paper. You should be creating the ending in particular with the idea of showing, or at least hinting at a solution or a proper course of action in case of a situation similar to that which you chose as the topic of your essay.
Make the conclusion a fitting ending
It is common for a story to have a big plot twist at the end of it, or have some new elements introduced that were not there before. Try your best to avoid this while writing a narrative paper, as the conclusion serves a purpose of ending the story that you are describing, but also talking about what the point of telling that story was in the first place. By making the conclusion about the idea of your essay, not about the story itself, you will do two things: firstly, you will remind the person reading the essay that the whole point of it is to draw conclusions and not just enjoy an interesting moment out of someone’s life, and secondly, you will make them think about that point by making it the last thing they take away from your work, as people remember best what they have read last.
Show what you have learned
Because a narrative essay often tells about your personal experience, in your ending you should make apparent how much more you understand now than at the moment described in your paper. You could even include information that you learned way past the event described, because of the nature and purpose of a work such as a narrative paper is to show what could or should have been done differently. However, if you can’t find anything that could differentiate you now from you then, accentuating how much the event has affected you is always an option to consider. By showing how baffled you are to this very day, your conclusion will serve as a warning to anyone willing to put themselves into a situation similar to yours.
Do not tell a reader what to think
On the subject of using a personal experience, as much as you would like to share it with others, try your best not to give away the point of your essay in plain text. You could use your feelings to push the reader to a conclusion that you want them to make. For example, instead of writing “My flower died. I should have watered it more often”, you could write something along the lines of “My flower withered away. Now it will always be a cruel reminder of my lack of responsibility.” Pushing the readers to form a lesson themselves will help them understand it on a deeper level and make them feel as if they discovered something new on their own. This will make it easier for them to use what they have learned because anyone would rather take advice from themselves than from someone else. So try to make them ask questions and do not necessarily give away all the answers.
Keep it short
As important as the conclusion is, there is no need for it to be massive. Try to shape it in a way that makes it take up from 12% to 15% of your work. Even if you find it difficult, a “short but to the point” ending will be much more effective and carry more weight than a huge wall of text that explains nothing and goes nowhere. Doing this will focus the reader’s attention on the subject matter.
So, put these points in short:
- Remember general rules of writing an essay;
- Know the point of your work;
- End the paper as an essay and not a story;
- Show your personal experience;
- Make the lesson open-ended;
- Do not make it too long.